Damn rude timewasters

[Walder]

This is a rant on behalf of my friend who is selling her horse - she has had a lot of enquiries and has been totally honest about her boy - he is lovely btw and great dressage jump ect - but has some minor 'health issues' that have never been a problem to him or my freind and their competing - any way some people from lincolnshire phoned and arranged to go to view him at 7.30 last night - my freind paid a baby sitter to look after her children and went to the yard and waited THEY DIDNT TURN UP!!!! no text no call just didnt arrive -Words fail me! Why are poeple so rude and inconsiderate if they changed their minds, fine, but a phone call would be polite. She has some one else coming to see him today who want him as a happy hacker - which he is not and she has told them that he isnt great hacking but they reallly want to see him - i expect that will be a waste of her time too!!!! Sorry - its off my chest now! thanks for listening folks xxxx

 

[the watcher]

How rude, but sadly not unusual.

 

[SouthWestWhippet]

I know exactly what you mean. We have a nice TBxID for sale at our yard. We had a chap come to look at him on Saturday. I was teaching and the other member of staff was rushing around the yard but the of course she dropped everything (as did the boss) to deal with the prospective buyer.

She led the horse out of the boss and the buyer looked at him and went
'oh... Have you got anything else?'. My boss said
'no, not really according to what you have said you want...'. The man apparently sighed in a dissapointed way and said
'oh well, I might as well try him I suppose'.

So we had to tack him up, ride him for the buyer, stand around for ages talking, then the buyer had a go on him... all the while KNOWING that the man clearly wasn't interested. Why bother? If the man had said from the start 'sorry, thanks but he isn't my type' it would have been about 2 mins of our time but as it is he took up more like an hour for no reason????

Some people

 

[Rambo]

We've had the other side of this...pony advertised as lovely L/R pony, not great off L/R and a bit lazy at times especially in the school. Asking price is OIRO £1500.

People came to see her on sunday with a 2yo and 4yo kid who could barely walk let alone ride. Pony is ridden in field and behaves perfectly then asked to try in school and is a bit lazy (someone should teach them that L/R ponies are led not dragged by the noseband

). They also take her out in the woods where she prefers to walk around puddles than go through them. People then complain that she's too slow for them and that she won't be any good x-c if she won't go through water...

FFS she's a county level L/R pony NOT an FEI Eventing Pony

Anyway, to add insult they then state that they'll 'take her for £500 as that's all she's worth'

A two word phrase beginning and ending in 'F' springs to mind

 

[k1963]

I had this years ago when I was trying to sell my horse . I was very honest about him in the ad , saying he was green & an ex racehorse & also explained that he was a poor doer .

Got countless 'phone calls along the lines of ' My daughter needs a horse for showjumping, is he ready ? ' to which I replied he had only just started jumping ( he was barely 5 ) & 'Is he good at gymkhanas ? '

One woman wanted to know if he was ' Show Quality ' - one look at his pic should have told her he was no oil painting !

Eventually people arrived to try him . One woman told me he had Navicular . I said he hadn't , but she was plodding along on him , so I suggested she woke him up a bit more.....

Another woman kept raising the jump until I had to tell her to stop as he wasn't at that height yet & surely 4 times over a jump was enough ?

I gave up & kept him until an injury forced his early retirement , but I got the impression that quite a few people were almost 'professional timewasters ' who fancied a ride

 

[Artois]

Timewasters drive me nuts.

I wouldnt bother showing them to the other people either, if she doesnt think he is going to be suitable.

and i would call the first ones and tell them exactley what I thought he he.

 

[Happytohack]

'fraid this happens all too often now

Suggest to your friend that she asks for a landline phone number as well as a mobile and asks the person coming to phone when they are on their way. A genuine buyer will only be too happy to go along with this and it might prevent the same thing happening again.

 

[Walder]

just spoken to her and she said she rang them when she got home last night - the bloke was in the pub and said that they thought it was too far to travl on that day so they want to come at the weekend!!!! The Cheek!!!! she has got someone coming to day so i told her that if they buy him not to tell the others and let them travel down (long way) and just not be there when they arrive - when they phone say 'Oh hes sold - sorry!' but she is too nice and wouldnt do that!

 

[CentrestageSHS]

Tell me about it, I am trying to sell a 5 year old SPORT HORSE. the amount of people ringing up that want a first horse or a hack amazes me!! FFS he has done more than most, he has hunted, done XC, ODE's done PC lessons, dressage, BSJA, you name he has done it and he is only 5!!! He was ranked number 8 in our area on the BSJA amateur tables and I have told all that come to view him that he is happy upto a 1m but after that you have to ride him if you want to jump higher, and he is a SPEED horse that specialises in going fast and clear, not a RS plod!!!! And the people that have such a high opinion of themselves and their ability amazes me and then blame the horse for things that they are asking it to do!!! What really winds me up is when you get a teenager with their "instructor" (who looks about 17), come and try him and jump and ride him and everything for an hour, the horse totally outclasses them and they think it is great!!! They say they really like him and would like to bring their parents and try him again and hack him, OK again he doesn't put a foot wrong and they say they really like him and are going to sort out a vetting. That's it never hear another word from them, and later find out from my friend down the road that she did exact same thing with them, I just think they see it as a chance to go and ride a horse that they wouldn't even dream of owning for free, its cheaper than a frigin lesson isn't it!!! As you can see I am fuming too! We had one man come who wanted to do eventing at Pre-Novice and Novice level, which the horse would do and he turned up with a very good event rider so I didn't think nothing of it, I rode him first then the inst. rode him then he got on, no getting used to the horse, he pointed him at a jump 3 strides out and booted him, needless to say the horse shot forward and cleared the jump with about 2 foot and the man proceeded to sock him in the mouth when he landed and the horse is very sensitive and about pull him over!!! he did this 3 times, and I had to tell him to get off. It turns out that the manhas never had a lesson and just hires horses out for hunting!! I was soo mad, my horse was upset and sore and it took me about 2 weeks to get him back to normal. Again we had another woman come with another very well-known instructor and got on him and walked him round the school for about 5 minutes and said that she wanted him! We asked her if she wanted to trot or canter and she said nope, I just want to go for a walk up the road once a month. Needless to say we still have the horse and we have took him off the market for a little while, as he was getting a little annoyed with planks on his back. We are now vetting the prospective buyer before they even turn up!!! It is just not worth wasting everybody's time and irritating a decent horse!!!

 

[Walder]

when i was totoly over horsed with the last horse i sold (not i hasten to add at my over estimating my ability - was through a dodgy dealer!) i averstised her as an experienced ride - very green - one woman came ran her hands all over her assured me that she was experienced and in fact talked the talk so i thought all was well - she was very confident and watched my very good rider freind ride the horse - then she got on - we had told her the horse was very stron and fast! but totly safe in that no bucks rears or spooks so we were able to have a chuckle as she zoomed round the school at 90 miles an hour trying every trick she knew to stop the horse!!! she then got off and said ' sorry this horse will not be suitalbe for my 13 yr old son!!!!!' we wernt aware it was being viewed for a child! UNBELIEVABLE!

 

[KatB]

We have had ythe other side of the coin too. A frined down south asked me to have a look at a horse closer to me for her. Rang the owner, explained situation, she was fine with it. I viewed the horse, realy liked him, sent vid to friend down south, and she rang owner same night. Owner said she was out of country til following weekend, but would it be ok to come up the next weekend. My friend said no probs, will ring closer to time to sort out time etc. Friend rang as promised, no answer, but got msg explianing had probs abroad, will be back later than planned. No probs, friend rings following day to be told the girl is down at the yard. not abroad!

Anyway sorts out appointment, rings the night before to confirm, as has a 5hr drive to see the horse. No answer, 5calls and several msgs later still no response, so my friend has had to give up! WHY DO PEOPLE DO IT
!?!?!!

 

[Weezy]

We have had a great one recently- girl came to see Casper, rode in school, OK but she was lacking in confidence - asked if she could have a lesson on him - yep absolutely fine, she did that and also hacked him out. After that second ride she said she wanted him, pleaded with the owner not to put him on Horsemart and that she would sort finances out and organise vetting. Owner gets called, finances sorted and vetting booked for the following Thursday. Owner works so I said I will get horse in and smart, YOs daughter booked to ride him for vetting and Owners friend coming down to keep an eye on proceedings. YOs daughter texts the vet in the morning asking him to bring a box of bute with him for her horses, that vet texts back saying "Sorry I am on holiday, not vetting any horses for you, must be another vet".

So, afternoon comes, I had gotten to the yard at 12, get horse in and ready for 1pm vetting, others come down too. We wait... 10 mins after vetting is booked for the owner calls her friend, the prospective purchaser has cancelled the vetting as she has decided to take a lease on a tack shop

So YOs daughter calls vet to say not to bother bringing the bute, she will go pick it up (she didnt want the call out charge) - the receptionist confirms no vetting has EVER been booked, but the prospective purchaser did have a vet booked to go jab her own horses in the neighbouring village

So three of us waster over an hour on lies - I was gobsmacked!!!!

 

[appyjude]

hmmm - had a woman come to try my tbx advertised as 'dressage schoolmaster, not suitable for jumping due to old injury and not a totally novice ride'....when she got on in the school could barely sit the trot, bought her son and and experienced friend along. Friend was teenager who also couldn't ride (hands in air and knitting for reins) and I stopped her and ordered her off the horse. Next people to see him was lovely lady who 'just wanted a school master tohack and do a bit of dressage with'. She loved him and arranged vetting. When vet arrives he commences, takes one look at old injury and says "this horse won't jump 1.20" - jolly right he won't.........she had told vet he was to be used by son for 'jumping' and as a part time school horse as he 'would be on working livery'. Kept the horse, it was easier!!

 

[NewHeights_SJ]

I sold my old horse about four months ago and had a real nightmare.

She was quite forwards going so not really for a novice, but would make a nice RC horse with right person. I had a woman ring up for her son, i forget exactly how old he was but it was around 15 or so. I explained that he would need to be a very capable rider, asked about his experience, how long he had been riding etc etc. I shouldn't of bothered because it made no difference, his mother talked him up and so i decided they could come have a look.

Rode the horse for them, and then the boy proceeded to get on. He booted her and off she went in a nice steady canter, but by the time he had reached the bottom of the school she was getting faster. Was calling at him to sit up and stop the horse (so that i could get him off!!) but he sat there like a lemon and ploughed my poor mare into the fence at the side of the school. She scratched her thighs quite badly and hit herself hard against the wood - the boy went flying.

I was absolutly furious, it was obvious he was a beginner! Luckily horse wasn't hurt just looked horrible which made it even harder to sell her!